Secrets and Lies
by Isabel5
Summary: Chlollie One-Shot. Spoilers for Bloodline. Oliver wants to know what's going on with Chloe and he's not leaving until he gets answers, even if they aren't the ones he wants.


Disclaimer: I don't own them obviously or the show would have gone in a much different direction a long time ago.

Spoilers: Warner this goes through the episode Bloodline so if you haven't seen it yet, you are warned.

* * *

Chloe walked into the Isis Foundation and slipped her keys in her pocket. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and remembered that she'd dropped Davis' file on the ground when possessed Lois tried to strangle her. She bent over to pick it up and noticed small blood drops fall on the folder. "Son of a…" She stood up and tilted her head back. Ever since she activated the crystal her nose had been bleeding on and off.

She slapped her hand around the table looking for a box of Kleenex when one was shoved into her hands. She frowned grabbing a couple tissues and pressing them to her nose. She lowered her head, expecting to see Clark and steeling herself for a lecture and she relaxed when she saw the blonde in front of her. "Oliver." She wiped away the last of the blood and tossed the tissue into the trash can. "What are you….what are you doing here?"

"Come on, you think I'm the kind of guy who watches his friend go all white eyes crazy woman, throw me across a room with a flick of her wrist and then hops on the next plan to Puerto Rico?" Oliver put his hands in his pockets and leaned back to look at her.

"Ok, one I was not a crazy woman." Chloe pushed past him and slid the open the filing cabinet. "Two I didn't throw you across a room." She rolled her eyes and stuck Davis' file in there and then froze. She turned around and tilted her head. "Did I?"

Oliver chuckled. "You did." He nodded. "One handed."

"That doesn't normally..." She sat down. "One handed?" She looked up at him and he sat on the edge of the desk next to her.

"What's going on Chloe?" He frowned and grabbed another tissue bringing it up to her face to catch a new drop of blood. She stared at him while he wiped her lip and then took a deep breath, grabbing the tissue from him and standing up to walk away. "Not gonna happen this time Watchtower." He said grabbing her arm and spinning her back around.

"Oliver." Chloe whispered, her eyes level with his chest. She couldn't look up. "Let go please."

He dropped her arm and she walked to the side cabinet. "So what? You're just going to keep walking away from me?" He sat down and ran a hand through his hair. "Is that what we're doing now?"

Chloe opened the cabinet and paused, closing her eyes before pulling out a canister of coffee. "We aren't doing anything Oliver." She set it on the counter and started to make a fresh pot. "Don't you have a meeting in Germany? You're assistant told me you had a meeting in Germany." She poured water in the coffee pot on and turned around. Oliver just stared at her. "So Germany?"

"I canceled Germany, I canceled Stockholm, and I canceled Paris. I'm free for the rest of the week."

"You cancelled Paris? Really?" Chloe smiled sadly. "Paris in winter is so amazing."

"Paris at Christmas is amazing, Paris in winter is rainy and cold and dreary." Oliver informed her.

"Yeah." Chloe said lamely. "But it's Paris."

Oliver laughed. "I'm staying here, right here until you talk to me." He patted the edge of the desk.

"Right there?" Chloe asked raising her eyebrows and pouring herself a cup of coffee. "You're staying right there until I talk to you?" Oliver nodded. Chloe stared at him for a second and then nodded. She turned around, pulled a travel coffee mug out of the cabinet and dumped her cup into it. Oliver watched her confused as she twisted the lid, turned off the coffee machine and dug around in her pocket. She walked over to him, smiled and tossed him something.

"Lock up for me would you?" She smiled and walked out the door as Oliver stared at the keys she'd thrown to him. He shook his head and walked out, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Chloe walked up to the Isis Foundation the next morning and stopped in the doorway. "Crap, my keys." She'd forgotten that she'd given them to Oliver the night before. Chloe dug around in the bottom of her bag, trying to remember if she carried a spare key with her.

"Morning." Oliver pulled the door open and held out a coffee mug.

"Morning." Chloe said slowly reaching out for the mug. He moved aside and let her in the office. She walked past him slowly and sat down at her desk. When she pulled off her coat and scarf she looked up and jumped to see Oliver sitting across from her. "What are you still doing here?"

"I told you." Oliver smiled. "I'm staying right here until you talk to me."

"Oliver." Chloe groaned.

"Don't." Oliver said, all traces of humor gone from his voice. He set his coffee cup down and stared at her. "I'm not playing around anymore. You dodge my phone calls, but I'm supposed to jump every time you have a problem?" His voice slowly rose with every sentence.

"Oliver, stop now." Chloe warned him.

"I spent four months searching for you and finally find you in Montana but something's wrong, apparently you've lost a healing ability that you didn't even bother to tell me you had, and now you're psychically hacking into advanced Alien technology, which is apparently just as dangerous as it sounds." He took a breath. "Clark said it had something to do with Brainiac and I don't know much about his whole alien thing but I know that guy is bad news."

"Stop it." Chloe slapped the desk and Oliver shut up in surprise.

"We were friends." Oliver said. "We were colleagues, we were...we used to talk every day, about work, about nothing in particular. I'd call you with some insane plan to break into a 33.1 facility, you'd laugh in my face, and then help me work out a marginally less insane plan." He shook his head. "You can't even look me in the eye now and every time you open your mouth you're either avoiding me or lying to me." Chloe looked up and stared him straight in the eye. "Don't worry, you'll talk, and I'll be right here until you do." He grabbed his coffee cup and took a sip.

"You make good coffee." Chloe said quietly as she flipped through her day planner.

"I learned from the best." He smiled up at her.

"I'm going to work now." Chloe pointed to her in box. "I can't just call in and cancel my work week."

"Feel free to go about your daily business." Oliver nodded. "And, I didn't cancel my whole week. I have some work to do too." He reached down and pulled a few files out of his briefcase. He looked toward the desk at the row of picture frames along the back and tried to balance his files on the edge. "Do you think I could just, you know, maybe you could spare a little more room on the edge here?"

Chloe looked up at him with veiled contempt on her face and then at her picture frames before moving them slightly forward a bit. She smiled up at Oliver, daring him to say anything. "Yeah, no that's great, that's…thanks, I can just do this." He looked down and balanced the files on his knees. "No problem." He smiled up at her and she shook her head as she reached for the phone.

* * *

Oliver was the last person Clark expected to see when he walked into the Isis Foundation. "No, I needed those numbers yesterday and you promised I'd have them by this morning." Oliver said flipping through his folder. "No you didn't fax them to me, because if you'd faxed them to me, I'd have them in front of me."

Chloe walked back from the coffee machine, two mugs in her hands and the phone to her ear. "I can't wait until tomorrow Louis, you promised me those hard drives a week ago." She handed Oliver a mug and waved Clark in. "I know I go through a lot of hard drives, if you could get your hands on those RT-948's...I know those were made for the defense department but I also know you can get your hands on them." Chloe sat down and looked through the papers on her desk. "Are these yours?" She whispered to Oliver passing some papers to him. "I got them off the fax machine."

Oliver looked over at her exasperated and snatched them from her. "Sorry about that Ryan I've got the figures right here."

"Fine, I'll take the regular hard drives, but throw in a few extra." Chloe hung up the phone. "Hey Clark, what can I do for you?"

"I wanted to…what's Oliver doing here?"

"Driving me slowly insane." Chloe smiled.

"You're not going to tell me are you?" Clark asked.

"Don't worry about it Clark, she doesn't tell me anything either." Oliver called over to Clark.

"I tell you what you need to know, I don't tell you things that are none of your business." Chloe called across the desk to him.

"Oh so suddenly there are things that are none of my business." Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"Aren't you still on the phone?" Chloe pointed out to him.

"You guys doing ok?" Clark asked cautiously.

"Fine." Chloe stood up and directed him to the other room. "Did you need something?"

"That file on the power plant accident you promised me." Clark said.

"Right." Chloe nodded opening a filing cabinet and pulling something out. "I can't believe you pitched this story to Lois and she's actually going for it. I tried to get Lex on this like twenty times when I was at the paper and he refused to bite."

"Well I'm thinking there's a meteor connection in here somewhere, I wanted to get your take on it." Clark said.

"Sure." Chloe nodded. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Ok." Clark nodded.

"See you Clark." Oliver waved happily at him as he walked out the door. They worked in silence across from each other for a few minutes. "You know that the company who makes the RT-948's is SynTech?" Oliver said.

"Yeah." Chloe didn't bother looking up from her file.

"You know that SynTech is a subsidiary of Queen Industries?" He raised his eyebrows at her and she stopped flipping pages and slowly looked up at him.

"So you're saying you have RT-948's?" Chloe asked.

"By the truckload." He nodded. "Literally."

"So you could get me a couple?" Chloe leaned forward.

"I might be persuaded." Oliver shrugged. "If there were something in it for me." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Chloe studied him for a minute and shook her head.

"I can work with what I've got." She said finally.

"You'll break." Oliver's mouth twitched.

"Want to bet?" Chloe snorted.

"Yes I do." Oliver leaned forward intrigued. "You don't break by the end of the week, I'll give you a lifetime supply of RT-948's."

"RT-948's will be obsolete in three years time." Chloe said.

"Fine, a lifetime supply of Queen Industries technology, at your fingertips." He offered.

"And if I break?" She asked.

"You come work for me full time." He said. "In a Watchtower capacity."

"Forever?"

"A year." He told her. "Just one year."

This was a dangerous bet to make. A lifetime supply of top of the line Queen Industries Tech was like a Christmas and her birthday all rolled into one, an offer she couldn't pass up but if she lost it was bad. Chloe knew, and so did Oliver she assumed, that if she worked for him full time for a whole year there would be no way she could stop, no way she could just drop everything and walk away. She took a deep breath, all she had to do was not break. "Deal." She nodded to him.

"I'm going to start designing your costume now. I'm thinking blue leather, hooded of course." He nodded at her.

"What you should be doing now is calling your financial advisor." Chloe snorted. "Because a lifetime supply of Queen Industries tech is going to bankrupt you." She smiled.

"Then I should buy you lunch while I still have money." Oliver pointed out.

Chloe looked up at him. "I could do lunch." She grabbed her jacket as Oliver stood up and held the door open.

"Speaking of hard drives." He smiled. "Victor snagged one at the last 33.1 lab that he can't seem to get into I was sort of hoping you could take a crack at it?"

"Sure." Chloe nodded. "I'm thinking Tai food."

* * *

"She was all over you." Chloe laughed as she pushed the door open. "Can I get you another spring roll Mr. Queen?" Chloe said in a breathless voice imitation of the waitress. "Can I get you some more sweet and sour sauce?" Chloe batted her eyelashes. "Meanwhile I'm over there with my freezing wonton soup and I can't seem to get your attention."

"I got her to freshen up your soup." Oliver pointed out.

"Because I asked her five times and she acted as if I wasn't even there." Chloe laughed. "To be honest I don't even think she knew I was there."

"She knew you were there." Oliver shook his head.

"She tried to take my plate away three times, while I was still eating." Chloe said and then turned around and stopped in her tracks. "Davis." She set her coat down. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you." She looked at him confused. "Did we have a meeting?"

"No, I just dropped by to see how you were getting along on that thing." He looked over at Oliver.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners." Chloe blushed. "Oliver Queen, Davis Bloome, I'm helping Davis with a personal situation, could you give us a minute?"

"Sure, I've got some phone calls to return." Oliver nodded at Davis and then excused himself to another room.

Chloe turned back to Davis who was raising his eyebrows at her. "Oliver Queen? The Oliver Queen?"

"Yeah." Chloe glossed over that. "So I've been trying to get in touch with your old social worker, she's retired now but I found someone who knew her and they said she moved to Florida to be closer to her grandkids. I haven't tracked her down there yet but I'm working on it."

"That's great Chloe really great…what is Oliver Queen doing here?" Davis looked at her confused.

"He's just…he…nevermind." Chloe waved him off.

Davis' eyes got huge. "Wait a minute, is he for…is he here for help? Isis Foundation help?" As Chloe looked more confused Davis sighed. "Does Oliver Queen have a meteor power?"

Chloe laughed and relaxed. "No, it's not like that."

"Really?" Davis said. "So for no particular reason what so ever, Oliver Queen, billionaire head of Queen Industries is just hanging around the Isis Foundation."

"He's got a particular reason. He's a friend of mine. I help him out with some personal stuff from time to time." Chloe explained.

Davis nodded then paused. "You're not just saying that to protect his anonymity are you?"

Chloe smiled at him. "If I were would I tell you?"

Davis laughed. "No I guess not." The radio on his belt went off and he grabbed it. "Unit 22 on the way."

"Look, I'll call you when I have more information." Chloe said.

"Sure. Thanks." Davis smiled. "Nice to meet you." He waved at Oliver who nodded back at him. "So, does he like shoot fire out of his eyes?"

"Go." Chloe laughed pushing him out of the door.

"Oh I know." Davis smirked. "He produces some pheromone that makes him irresistible to the opposite sex."

"You really think Oliver Queen needs help in that area?"

"Guess not." Davis frowned. "I'll figure it out." He smiled and studied Oliver as he walked out.

"Strange guy." Oliver smiled walking back over to the desk.

"Yeah, he was trying to figure out your meteor power." Chloe sat down and opened a file.

"My meteor power?" Oliver asked confused.

"Well obviously you have to have one because why else would Oliver Queen billionaire head of Queen Industries be hanging around the Isis Foundation?" Chloe smirked.

"Right, so instead of saying we were friends you just let him believe I had some weird power?" Oliver asked.

"No I told him we were just friends, that I was helping you out with something, and you had no powers." Chloe grabbed a pen. "And he assumed I was just trying to protect you."

Oliver snorted. "Like I need you to protect me."

"You'd be surprised." Chloe said so softly Oliver didn't even hear her.

He was there when Chloe showed up the next day, and the day after that, and slowly he started to take over more of her desk. Oliver didn't stop asking questions and Chloe didn't answer any, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. Even though there were still secrets between them they seemed to be getting back to their old selves with each other.

"I have a group meeting here later." She said moving files around her desk on Friday. "You're gonna have to make yourself scarce."

"Not gonna happen." Oliver shook his head.

"These people come to me for help Oliver, help and anonymity, and I'm trying my hardest to give it to them and I can't do that with some strange guy sitting in the corner eavesdropping on their private meeting." Chloe tried to reason with him.

"I guess I can go out for diner, maybe a movie." He said finally. "But I'm coming back when the meeting's over."

"Have fun, I'll be going home." Chloe smiled at him.

"Well played." He nodded going back to his files.

* * *

Oliver walked back into the Isis Foundation carrying an extra dessert from the restaurant and bumped into Davis. "Sorry."

"No problem." Davis smiled.

"Is the group meeting over?" Oliver dropped the bag on the desk.

"Oh yeah it ended about thirty minutes ago." Davis nodded. "I'm just here to talk to Chloe."

"Is Chloe here?" Oliver asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry, she's in the back, talking to her fiancé." Davis sat on the edge of the desk.

"I'm sorry, her who?" Oliver did a double take.

"Jimmy Olsen, her fiancé." Davis said. "Do you know Jimmy?"

"Yeah, I know Jimmy." Oliver sat down slowly. "She's engaged?"

"Oh wow, that's the second time I've done that." Davis winced. "I keep telling people before Chloe can. God she's gonna be so mad at me."

"How long has she been engaged?" Oliver asked as if the whole thing were absurd.

"As long as I've known her, a couple months now at least." Davis shrugged. Oliver walked closer to the back room and stopped when he heard Chloe and Jimmy talking.

"So how much longer do you think you'll be?" Jimmy asked.

"About thirty minutes, I've got to finish up a few things." Chloe gathered the stuff from the meeting. "Why?"

"Well, I've got a lasagna in the oven, desert in the fridge and the night off so I thought we could have a date night, finalize the weeding plans." Jimmy offered.

Chloe smiled. "It's a date." She leaned forward and kissed him. That's when Oliver turned away and headed for the door. "Could you tell Chloe that…just tell her that she wins and I had to leave. Tell her that her hard drives will be here on Monday?"

"Uh, sure, yeah." Davis said confused as Oliver quickly walked out of the building.

Jimmy and Chloe walked into the front office just as the door was closing and Davis turned his attention to them. "Hey Davis." Jimmy waved on his way out the door.

"You called?" He asked Chloe.

"Yes." She pulled a card out of her pocket. "I found your old social worker but she'll only talk to you so here's her number." She handed him the card.

"Thanks." Davis slipped it in his pocket. "I really appreciate this."

"It's no problem really." Chloe sat down and noticed the bag from the restaurant. "What's this?"

"Oh yeah." Davis sat down opposite her. "Oliver Queen dropped by. He asked me to tell you that you won, he had to go and your hard drives will be here on Monday."

Chloe frowned. "That's it?" Davis nodded. "Thanks."

"So I've been thinking about this all week." Davis smiled. "Can he fly?"

"What?" Chloe looked up.

"Oliver Queen, can he fly?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "He can't fly."

"It's fine, I've got a list."

"A list?" Chloe questioned him.

"Of his possible super powers." Davis leaned forward. "Let's see, does he have super strength? Super speed? Hearing, eyesight?"

"No." Chloe shook her head and got back to work.

"Ok, let's go to the opposite end of the spectrum. Maybe he's Toxic. Does he have Toxic spit, snot, breath?"

"He's not toxic, will you just drop it?" Chloe glare at him.

"Oh I could go on all night." He smiled and Chloe groaned.

* * *

Chloe tried to call Oliver after Davis left to gloat about her win but he didn't answer. She couldn't figure out why he'd left so abruptly, he didn't even bother to say goodbye in person.

"Chloe?" Jimmy snapped his fingers. "You with me?"

"Sorry." Chloe smiled. "Yes."

"You were a million miles away just then." Jimmy pointed out.

"I'm back and I'm all yours for the rest of the night, promise." Chloe leaned over the table to give Jimmy a kiss when there was suddenly a pounding at the door. She sighed and leaned back. "I got it." She dropped her napkin on the table and walked to the door. She'd barely turned the knob when the door was shoved in. She had to jump back not to get hit in the face and was more than surprised to see Oliver standing there looking less than pleased with her. "What are you doing here?" She stole a glance at Jimmy and Oliver pushed past her into the room. "Please come on in." Chloe closed the door behind him and turned around.

"You know what really bothers me?" Oliver spoke suddenly and abruptly.

"Oh I'm sure there are several things; off the top of my head I'd say those shopping carts with the one faulty wheel that you don't even figure out it's faulty until you've got it half filled with groceries and you can't do anything about it."

"What?" Oliver looked over confused. "No." He shook his head.

"Really?" Chloe reached over and picked up an olive from her salad. "Huh, that always bothers me, then again the last time you pushed a shopping cart was probably…actually you've probably never pushed a shopping cart."

"Chloe, listen to my voice, do you really think that now is the time to be cracking jokes?" Oliver stared at her and she immediately shut her mouth, swallowing hard. "I can understand you wanting to be secretive about all that other stuff, I can kind of understand you shutting me out when it comes to you work but I can't believe that you got engaged three months ago and I had to hear about it from Davis, not from you, from Davis. I'm assuming my invitation got lost in the mail."

"Davis has got to stop telling people that I'm engaged." Chloe sighed. "That's the second time he's done that, I can't believe he can't keep his mouth shut."

"This isn't about Davis, forget about Davis, this is about you and me." Oliver snapped. "You're getting married? Married? To Jimmy Olsen?" Oliver said then turned to Jimmy. "No offense."

"Of course, why would I take offense to that?" Jimmy picked up his fork and took a bite.

"Oliver this is not the time or place for this conversation." Chloe grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hallway and slammed the door behind them.

"Don't mind me." Jimmy took a large gulp of wine. He was tempted to get up and listen at the door but he figured nothing that was being said would make any sense to him anyway so he didn't even bother. When he heard the muffled argument he simply poured more wine in his glass.

"You don't get to do this Oliver." Chloe pulled him away from the door. "You don't get to just storm into my apartment and start ranting about something you know nothing about."

"And why would I know anything about it?" Oliver asked. "You didn't bother to tell me. I didn't even know you guys were back together."

"It happened quickly there wasn't a lot of time to sit down and talk it over with you, and oh yeah it's none of your business." Chloe snapped.

"Clark said he proposed when you got back from Montana." Oliver paced back and forth. "Montana, yet another thing you won't talk to me about."

"Yet another thing that's none of your business." Chloe pointed out.

"Ok, how about before Montana." Oliver said. "Before Montana, it was my business then."

"Before Montana…" Chloe lowered her head. "Things were different."

"Yeah." Oliver laughed humorlessly. "You and Jimmy weren't together and you and I were…" He trailed off not sure how to finish it.

"You and I weren't anything Oliver." Chloe sat down on the top step of the staircase. "I think you have this extremely flawed notion in your head when it comes to our relationship. When we first met we were thrown into a situation where our deepest darkest secrets were revealed to each other before any of the normal mundane secrets. I knew about your secret identity before I knew what you're favorite ice cream was or what kind of music you liked. And yes a friendship grew from that and I know your favorite ice cream now and what kind of music you like but because of how we started off our relationship was closer and more intense than it should have been with no solid foundation to support it." Chloe took a deep breath. "And that didn't work out to well for us did it?"

_

* * *

_

Oliver and Chloe watched the blonde woman jump off the roof in shock and stood there for a few seconds in stunned silence. "What the hell was that?" Chloe said finally.

"_I have no idea." Oliver shook his head. He looked over at Chloe and smiled suddenly as if the previous few minutes never happened. "I believe I promised you dinner." _

_Chloe stared at Oliver and then busted out laughing. "And I believe I promised you classified information on one of Lex's 33.1 labs." _

"_True." Oliver nodded as Chloe stared to walk back toward the door to the roof. "But I didn't realize that one was conditional on the other." Oliver caught up to her and held the door as she walked through. "This wouldn't be another one of your attempts to avoid the situation?" _

"_Situation?" Chloe asked and Oliver moved to block her progress, trapping her between him and the doorway. Her breath caught in her throat at his proximity. "I didn't realize we had a situation." _

_Oliver leaned forward and nudged her face up to look at him. "We've had a…situation for a few months now." He looked down and kissed her lightly. "Ever since you started working with me more and more, we seem to be put into life and death situations, that result in heightened emotional states, and generally end up with us, making out like teenagers." He kissed her again. "Only when I try to carry that over into some real life thing you always find a way to avoid." _

"_I'm not avoiding, I'm being cautious." Chloe whispered. "Workplace romances rarely ever work out." _

"_Good thing we don't actually have a workplace." Oliver smiled at her. _

"_Oliver, the world is our workplace." Chloe laughed. _

"_That was good." Oliver took a step back. "That was very good, we should make that like our motto." Chloe laughed harder. "No really, get it printed up on stationary, possibly coffee mugs." Chloe rolled her eyes and turned to walk down the stairs. Oliver followed her down. "So my place, tomorrow night. I'll cook." _

"_You don't cook." Chloe smiled at him over her shoulder. _

"_I can cook." Oliver protested. "I can kick ass at cooking. Not that you'll ever know because you keep backing out like a wuss." _

"_Fine." Chloe turned around. _

"_Fine what?" Oliver stopped walking._

"_I'm calling your bluff Queen." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "Your place tomorrow night. I expect to be gastronomically astonished." _

"_Oh you will, your stomach will never be the same." Oliver assured her. _

"_Looking forward to it." Chloe smiled and pushed him toward the doors. "Now go get that disk back." _

* * *

"As I recall that dinner was interrupted by Lois and you and she…it didn't go well." Chloe reminded him.

"I admit." Oliver sat down next to her. "Things didn't go as planned. Lois showed up and I panicked, I didn't know what to tell her and it just spiraled out of control. She thought I made the diner for her and I've apologized for this a thousand times before."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded and pushed herself off the steps. "But that doesn't matter, none of that matters anymore Oliver, I'm engaged, I'm getting married and it doesn't matter anymore."

"Of course it matters Chloe." Oliver snapped at her. "Of course it…we were so close and then you just disappeared from my life like it didn't matter, like nothing happened. And now you're engaged?"

"My dinner's getting cold, I think you should leave." She walked to the door and reached to open it.

"Sure, just leave like you always do when things get too real." He shook his head and walked away. Chloe closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts before walking back into the apartment.

"Sorry about that." She smiled at Jimmy and sat down. "Did it get cold?" She picked up her fork and stopped at the look Jimmy was giving her. "What?"

"What?" Jimmy leaned back in his chair and laughed. "What? Did I just imagine the past five minutes or did Oliver Queen, billionaire head of Queen Industries just storm in here and complain about not getting an invitation to our wedding?"

"Ok, seriously do people think that's his name? Can anyone say Oliver Queen without adding "billionaire head of Queen Industries" to it. It's not like it's on his birth certificate."

"Chloe." Jimmy cut her off. "What was that?"

"That was, don't worry about it." Chloe brushed him off.

"Don't worry about it?" Jimmy set his fork down. "Since when do you know Oliver Queen well enough to invite him to our wedding? Since when do you know Oliver Queen well enough that he gets mad he wasn't invited to our wedding? Forget all that, since when do you know Oliver Queen?"

"He dated Lois for a while." Chloe took a bite of her lasagna, it was cold. "Remember?" She took a sip of her wine.

"Oh, right. So a man who dated your cousin for like five months over a year ago gets that upset because he wasn't invited to our wedding?" Jimmy stood up and brought his plate to the sink. "Try again."

"He's not upset because I didn't invite him. If I had invited him it wouldn't have…he's not upset because of that. He's upset because I didn't tell him about the engagement." Chloe took another bite. "Like he has to know everything, like it's any of his business." She looked up at Jimmy angry now. "I mean who the hell is he to come to my house, interrupt my dinner and pitch a fit like a two year old who got his favorite toy taken away? What is that about?" She stood up and brought her plate to the kitchen. "I'll tell you what it's about." She dumped the plate in the sink loudly. "It's about his ego. It's about the fact that he doesn't know every single aspect of everyone's lives. Like just because he's Oliver freaking Queen he gets to dictate to us lowly peons from his high and mightily throne?" Chloe started pacing back and forth. "You know what I mean?" She asked Jimmy.

"Not even remotely." Jimmy shook his head.

"God he always does this." Chloe threw her hands up in exasperation. "He just waltzes into town and throws everything out of whack and then he waltzes back out and I'm left picking up the pieces, you know."

"No, again." Jimmy shook his head.

"And he accuses me of avoiding? He accuses me of running away? I'm not the one who leaves. I'm not the one who jets off to Prague at the first sign of conflict you know?" Chloe walked to the door and grabbed her coat.

"Where are you going?" Jimmy asked confused.

"I'm going to remind him that I'm not the only one here who messed up." She pulled the door closed behind her and Jimmy sighed, turning to the fridge and pulling out the cheesecake.

"I really shouldn't let this go to waste." He sighed bringing it to the table and not even bothering to cut a piece off. He just picked up his fork and stuck it in the middle of the cake and took a big bite.

* * *

Oliver threw clothes into his bag, not bothering to look at what he was throwing and when he'd finally filled it up he sighed, dumping it out on the bed to start over as he realized he'd packed an entire suitcase of underwear, dress socks, and ties. "None of my _business_?" He mumbled, yanking shirts off of hangers and stuffing them in the bag, without even folding them. "None of _my_ business?" He said again violently as he threw a pair of shoes on top of the shirts. "I'll show you my business."

"Ah ha." A voice said from the doorway and he jumped in surprise. He turned to find Chloe leaning against the door frame, a wild look in her eyes as she pointed a finger at his bag.

"What are you doing here?" He glared at her as he grabbed two pairs of pants and stuffed them on top of the shoes.

"Proving my point." Chloe said smugly.

"What point?" Oliver stopped packing and looked at her confused.

Chloe froze with her mouth open. "The point I'm about to make." She dropped her coat and bag on the dresser and walked into the room. "I'm not the only one here avoiding. I'm not the only one here who leaves when things get tough."

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked.

"I'm talking about you. I'm talking about the packing. I'm talking about the reason that I don't talk to you." Chloe said. "You want me to open up? You want me to tell you all my deep dark secrets? You want me to trust you? How can I do that Oliver when you keep running away?"

"I don't run away." He said sternly.

"No?" Chloe laughed. "After the whole thing with Lois and the Black Canary, you hightailed it back to Star City before the construction crew had the new windows up, without so much as a goodbye by the way." Chloe pointed out to him. "You were the one dodging my calls then, you were the one who wouldn't talk to me."

"Lois said some things to me and I had a lot to work through." Oliver pointed out.

Chloe just glared at him. "It wasn't just then Oliver. You want me to open up about Montana? About Brainiac? You want me to tell you all my deep dark secrets but apparently that doesn't work both ways. After you were poisoned, after I spent hours at your bedside, nursing you back to health, scouring the globe for anything that I could use to save you, did you open up to me?" Chloe walked closer. "Did you sit down and tell me your story, tell me what the whole thing had to do with Tess Mercer? Tell me what the hell happened in the first place? Tell me what happened between you and Clark because it doesn't take a genius to know you guys had some sort of fight. No. You sent me a bouquet of flowers that arrived before you'd even left Metropolis airspace and a note saying thanks."

"Hey, at least I thanked you." Oliver glared at her.

"I don't want a thank you." Chloe shook her head. "You think I saved you for a thank you? You can't have it both ways Oliver, you can't expect me to tell you everything that's going on in my life but be perfectly ok when you're keeping secrets from me. It doesn't work that way."

"I don't expect you to tell me everything that's going on in your life Chloe, what I'd like is for you to tell me anything." Oliver yelled at her. "Anything at all. You re-open the Isis Foundation I hear about it from Clark. You get engaged, I hear about it from some random guy. You turn into the uber hacker with freakish strength and you pretend like it's no big deal."

"It isn't." Chloe yelled back.

"Damn it Chloe it is." Oliver slapped the bedside table. "I stood there and watched you. Do you have any idea what you looked like? Do you have any idea how freaked out I was?"

"I was fine." Chloe protested.

"You were bleeding." Oliver pointed out. "You were bleeding and you're eyes were white and it was like you couldn't even hear me, like you weren't even…you anymore."

"I was fine." Chloe insisted.

"But how the hell am I supposed to know that nose bleeds and white eyes are fine when you don't tell me anything?" Oliver stepped closer to her.

"You know, you can be as high and mighty as you want to when it comes to the computer thing, but I noticed it doesn't stop you from taking advantage of my new power, you asked me two days ago to hack into a hard drive for you, or did you conveniently forget that?"

"I've been asking you to hack into hard drives for over a year now Chloe, long before you got your fancy new power." He took a deep breath and sighed. "I stole that generator for you because you asked me to and I trust you. But you can't put me in that position again. I don't think you were fine, I think whatever's going on with you is dangerous and your messing around with something you don't understand and don't fully know the consequences of and I think you put me in the middle of that situation blind because you knew I wouldn't approve, so you know, deep down that something's wrong and that you're not fine."

Chloe slowly lowered herself into a chair and let out a shaky breath. Oliver sat opposite her on the edge of the bed. "I didn't push you before, after Montana, I didn't want to force you to talk about something you weren't ready to talk about but I knew then that you weren't fine and I know now that you aren't fine and I can't help you if you don't let me."

Chloe slowly lifted her head up to look him in the eyes. "Montana…" She started and then cut herself off. "It wasn't about Montana, it wasn't about Black Creek. The place wasn't even that bad." Chloe smiled slightly. "As far as secret test facilities for unwilling hostages go. They didn't treat me that bad. Sure there were the usual medical tests and…but it wasn't that bad."

"I don't understand." Oliver shook his head slowly. "On the ride back you were so quit, so strange. You wouldn't talk to us."

"_Clark's going to be fine." Oliver said quietly as he lowered himself into the seat next to Chloe. "He's indestructible remember?" Oliver frowned when Chloe didn't say anything. "Chloe." He touched her shoulder gently. _

"_Huh?" She turned startled. "Sorry, what?" She frowned at him. _

"_Clark, he's gonna be fine. That guy who took him, he's gonna be fine." Oliver frowned. "Right?" _

"_Yeah." Chloe smiled sadly. "He's gonna be fine. That guy, he's like Clark, he'll fix him." _

"_I shot him." Oliver pointed out. _

"_That wasn't your fault." Chloe assured him. "He'll be fine Oliver." _

"_What about you?" He said cautiously. This was the first time she'd spoken since they found her. They'd taken her out of that place, drove to the airport and got on the plane and the whole time Chloe was absolutely silent. _

"_What about me what?" Chloe asked. _

"_Are you going to be ok?" He gently brushed some hair away from her cheek where a bruise was forming. She ducked her head away from him and forced a smile. _

"_I'll be fine." She nodded and then turned back to the window._

"_Chloe, what did they do to you in there?" Oliver finally asked, his voice a low whisper. _

_Chloe slowly turned to look at him and smiled again, this time it wasn't as big. "I'll be fine." She said again, only with less conviction this time._

"But you weren't fine." Oliver said. "I don't understand if they didn't do anything to you, what happened?"

"It was me." Chloe said to him. "I was different. I realized in Black Creek that I'd changed, that Brainiac had changed me."

"Changed you how?" Oliver whispered.

"When I first found out I had been infected by the meteors, that I had a power, I freaked out. Everyone I'd ever come across had been crazy or evil or both and I was scared. But the more I started to understand my power the more I realized it was a good thing, I could help people, I could heal people, I could bring them back from the dead." Chloe smiled. "But then Brainiac came along and he did…whatever it was that he did to me and I changed. I lost that power, but I got another one and at first when they were testing me I thought of how much better this power was, how much more I could help you, help Clark with this."

"What exactly is this?" Oliver asked.

"I don't know, my brain is like super amplified. I can break codes that the most complex computers in the world can't. I can sort through information at a speed that even Clark can't match. I can access any piece of information from any computer in the world and I don't even have to touch a keyboard to do it. Last week, I turned the coffee pot on from across the room." Oliver whistled, realizing now what she'd done to the crystal. "But it's not all good. I finally understood when I was at Black Creek what all those other meteor infected went through, I understood that unlike my healing power, this one was dangerous."

"How?"

"I'm a liability now." Chloe told him. "To Clark, to you and the guys. Do you know how they caught Dina and AC? Do you know how they found you? I told them. I helped them. These powers are great and useful and if anyone ever found out what I could do, they could use me. They could use me to get to you, to get to Clark and I couldn't do that. I couldn't let that happen." Chloe laughed. "No one's going to hold the girl with healing powers hostage. No one's going to blackmail that girl to heal someone. But the girl who can hack into top secret government databases, the girl who can psychically push her mind into alien computers, she's useful, she's dangerous."

"So you pushed us away?" Oliver said, realization dawning on him.

Chloe nodded. "I figured if I distanced myself from you guys, if I stayed away, you couldn't be used against me. I thought about it on the plane ride back to Metropolis and when I got back to the Talon and Jimmy was there I thought, this is it, this is perfect. Jimmy Olsen, photographer for the Daily Planet and as vanilla as a guy can get, he's safe, he's normal. So when he asked me to marry him, I said yes." Chloe looked at Oliver.

They sat in silence for a while, both of them digesting the new information. "That's stupid." Oliver said finally and Chloe looked at him surprised. "That's honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever heard in my life."

"Excuse me?" Chloe asked angrily.

"Marrying Jimmy Olsen because he's normal, no he's worse than normal he's, for Christ sake Chloe it's Jimmy Olsen." Oliver stood up and started pacing. "You are one of the smartest people that I know and that is one of the stupidest things that I've ever heard of."

"I'm trying to protect you." Chloe said to him.

"I'm a big boy Chloe, I don't need you to protect me." He pointed out. "This is what I'm talking about, if you would have just talked to me about this a long time ago, none of this would have happened. Why do you have to be so stubborn? Why do you have to be so independent? You don't always have to be the one who helps everyone else out, you can be the one asking for help every now and then."

"I don't need your help thank you." Chloe stood up quickly and grabbed her bag walking to the elevator and violently punched the call button. Oliver followed her out of the room and grabbed her arm just as she was stepping in the elevator. He spun her around and pulled her in for a bruising passionate kiss. Chloe shoved him away and slapped him hard across cheek.

"Chloe Sullivan does not marry Jimmy Olsen." Oliver panted as Chloe backed into the elevator. "That's not how your story ends." Chloe pushed the button for the ground floor. "Chloe Sullivan does not marry Jimmy Olsen." Oliver called after her.

* * *

"Arrogant, self-righteous son of a…" Chloe slammed the door as she walked back into her apartment and Jimmy looked up as she plopped herself down next to him. "Do you mind if I?" She didn't wait for an answer just grabbed the fork out of his hand and stabbed the cheesecake in the middle, pulling away a huge bite.

"So what exactly happened?" Jimmy asked.

"What happened?" Chloe laughed and stabbed another bite with her spoon. "What happened? Well he was a jerk wasn't he?" Chloe looked over at Jimmy. "I mean here I am, doing exactly what he wanted, pouring out all my secrets for him and what does he do? What does he do?" Chloe ate another angry bite of cheesecake. "He calls me stupid. Can you believe that?"

"He called you stupid?" Jimmy desperately tried to understand what was going on as he started a pot of coffee.

"I know." Chloe stood up and walked over to the coffee pot. "He called me stupid. Oliver Queen called me stupid." She loudly and angrily went about fixing a pot of coffee. "I have more brain power in my pinky than he has in his entire body and I'm the stupid one."

"Hmm." Jimmy nodded and poured Chloe a cup of coffee.

She took the coffee and sipped it slowly. "And that thing he said when I was leaving, what did that mean?" Chloe turned around. "What did that mean?"

"What did what mean?" Jimmy sighed.

"Chloe Sullivan doesn't marry Jimmy Olsen." Chloe scoffed. "And he said it like it was some profound statement." She set her coffee cup down. "It doesn't even make any sense."

"Actually." Jimmy looked at her. "It makes perfect sense."

"I know…what?" Chloe turned to Jimmy.

Jimmy nodded for Chloe to follow him to the table. "It makes perfect sense Chloe, I've been fooling myself for a while now thinking differently but I can't anymore. Chloe Sullivan doesn't marry Jimmy Olsen."

"Except Chloe Sullivan does marry Jimmy Olsen, in two months, Chloe Sullivan marries Jimmy Olsen…can we stop talking in the third person. I'm marring you." Chloe reached for his hand. He slowly pulled away.

"No you aren't." Jimmy shook his head. "This wedding isn't going to happen, this wedding was never going to happen."

"How can you say that?" Chloe shook her head confused.

"Oh come on Chloe, we were in the middle of date night, date night in which we were supposed to finalize the wedding details and you've spent the entire time fighting with or yelling about Oliver Queen, a guy I didn't even realize you knew before today."

"That's nothing, that doesn't mean anything." Chloe protested.

"It's not just that Chloe. You think I don't know there are things you can't tell me, or don't tell me. It's not just about Oliver Queen, it's about the Isis Foundation, it's about Clark."

"I've told you, I don't love Clark anymore." Chloe shook her head.

"I know that, but there are things that the two of you share that we never will and I know that." Jimmy said.

"We're getting married." Chloe smiled at him.

"Chloe Sullivan doesn't marry Jimmy Olsen." He shook his head.

"Will people quit saying that?" Chloe jumped up. "People really should stop saying that." She backed away to the door. "I'm going to go figure this out, I'm going to fix this." She grabbed her coat.

Jimmy laughed. "There's nothing to fix." He said to her. "The fact of the matter is, I never should have asked you to marry me, you never should have accepted. It's ok Chloe, I've been thinking about this for a while now, it's ok."

"No, it's not ok, I'm gonna fix this." Chloe assured him as she walked out the door.

* * *

Jimmy washed the dishes with a sort of calm detachment. He'd finish the dishes, pack a bag for a few nights, when he found a place he'd come back for the rest of his stuff. He'd have to make a list of things to cancel for the wedding, he and Chloe could split it up and get it done in half the time. They'd have to eat the cost of the deposits but there was nothing to do about that. Since Chloe left he'd been getting more used to the idea of not marring her, it was the right move for him and definitely the right move for Chloe. He was mentally forming the list in his head when there was a knock at the door. He grabbed a dish towel and wiped his hands. "Come in." He called over his shoulder.

"You know what?" Oliver walked in and slammed the door. "You've got to just stop walking away from me when we get in a fight, how does that solve anything…" He trailed off as Jimmy set the dish towel on the counter and Oliver realized that Chloe wasn't there.

"I think she went to find you."

"She did?" Oliver asked sheepishly.

"Yeah to yell some more." Jimmy nodded.

"Oh." Oliver stood there lamely. "So, like how long ago did she leave? Maybe we passed each other or…"

"She'll probably come back here when she can't find you." Jimmy pointed out. "You want some coffee?"

"Sure." Oliver nodded and sat down at the table slowly. "Because this isn't at all awkward."

"I work with Lois." Jimmy smiled setting a coffee mug in front of Oliver. "I'm used to awkward."

Oliver smiled and sipped his coffee as Jimmy sat down next to him. "So." Jimmy nodded. "We've never really been introduced. Jimmy Olsen."

"Oliver Queen." Oliver said. "This is good coffee." He raised his cup and then took another sip.

"Thanks." Jimmy smiled. "So do you love her?"

Oliver choked on the coffee and Jimmy reached around and patted his back laughing. "Wow." Oliver said when he got the coughing under control. "Strong." He set the cup down.

"What am I saying, of course you love her, she's Chloe." Jimmy shook his head.

"Look, Jimmy, nothing against you but this isn't right, and deep down Chloe knows that and I think you know that to." Oliver frowned.

"I do." Jimmy nodded and walked into the living room. "That's why I broke it off with her."

"You what?" Oliver followed him.

"Yeah a few minutes ago, before she left to yell at you some more." Jimmy frowned. "I don't know why she said yes to me and I don't know why I let her, actually I do know why I let her, I love her." Oliver hung his head. "But I want her to be happy, and she's not going to be happy with me. She'll be fine but I don't want her to be fine, I want her to be great. She can't be great with me, not when she has to keep so many secrets, when she has to go behind my back because eventually she'll feel guilty about it and she'll grow to resent me and I don't want that."

"That's really big of you." Oliver said.

"Well, yeah." Jimmy smiled. "Cause I'm that guy."

"Yeah." Chloe said from the doorway. "You are that guy." She smiled sadly at him. "Oliver can I just have a minute."

"Sure." Oliver nodded and walked into the hallway.

"How long were you standing there?" Jimmy turned to her.

"Long enough. "I want her to be great", why do you have to be such a nice guy?" Chloe sat down on the couch. "This would be so much easier if you were a jerk you know."

"I could call you a bitch." Jimmy said. "But I wouldn't mean it." Chloe laughed and took a deep breath.

"So, Chloe Sullivan does not marry Jimmy Olsen?" She looked over at him.

"Not in this lifetime. I've got high hopes for the next one though." He put an arm around her shoulder.

"So what do we do now?" Chloe asked him.

"Well we call the caterer, the venue, the florist, the photographer, the priest, the DJ and the rental company and cancel everything." Jimmy took a breath. "Then we go our separate ways, staying friends of course because thanks to Lois and her constant demand for my services, you'll never truly be rid of me."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Chloe nudged him.

"Look." Jimmy stood up. "I kind of need to not be here right now, and you need to talk so…" He motioned for the door.

"Wait." Chloe stood up. She looked down at her hand and pulled the ring off, handing it over to him. "I'm really sorry about all this."

"You'll make it up to me." Jimmy said. "I expect to be thrown more than my fair share of above the fold story tips."

"You're my first call, always." Chloe leaned forward and hugged him.

"I'm gonna go now." He nodded at her and walked to the door. When he opened it Oliver was standing there leaning against the door frame. "She's all yours." Jimmy said. Oliver and Chloe turned to him with their eyebrows raised. "I didn't mean it like…not that I'm like giving her to you or…you know what I'm just gonna go." He went down the steps.

Oliver walked into the apartment, closing the door behind him and sat down next to Chloe. "I hate you." She said to him matter of factly.

"No you don't." He answered with a smile.

Chloe sighed. "Fine, I have strong feelings of dislike for you at the moment."

Oliver shrugged. "It'll pass." Chloe glared at him but couldn't hold it for long and laughed instead.

"So what happens now?" She pulled her feet under her and turned to him.

"You call the caterer, the venue, the florist…" Oliver repeated Jimmy's answer and Chloe cut him off.

"With us? What happens now with us?" She clarified.

"Ah, that's the easy part in all this." Oliver slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer, until she was resting her head on his chest. "We start over."

"That's the easy part?" Chloe looked up at him doubtfully.

"Sure." Oliver told her. "You were right about one thing."

"Only one?" Chloe asked.

"We did get thrown into a deeply intense relationship without the proper foundation, so we start over, build the foundation and then see where that takes us." He pulled away from her and held out his hand. "Oliver Queen."

Chloe smiled. "Billionaire head of Queen Industries Oliver Queen?"

"As a matter of fact, that is my middle name." Chloe laughed again. Oliver raised his eyebrows at his outstretched hand and she rolled her eyes.

"Chloe Sullivan, nice to meet you." She shook his hand.

"See that wasn't so hard was it?" Oliver asked.

"No, not really." Chloe smiled. "So Oliver Queen, tell me about yourself. Do you have any interests? Any Hobbies? Like to dress up in green leather and secretly fight crime maybe?"

"Wow, I'm not sure we know each other well enough for that conversation." He pretended to be offended.

"Oliver." Chloe sighed.

"But I'd like to get to know you better, maybe over diner?" Oliver offered.

"You know I just got out of a pretty serious relationship like…" She looked at her watch quickly. "Five minutes ago, so maybe we could start off with coffee and work our way up to diner."

"I could do coffee. I make a mean French Roast." Oliver nodded. They sat in silence for a while and Oliver seemed to be debating something in his head.

"Oliver, whatever you're trying not to say…say it." Chloe turned to face him.

"I hate to break this nice little moment we're having here, but…did you get a chance to look at that hard drive yet?" He asked sheepishly.

"Oh I totally forgot about that." Chloe jumped up and grabbed something out of her bag before plopping back down on the couch next to Oliver. "You guys totally hit the jack pot with this one. There was tons of stuff on there, I'm not even halfway through it all yet but from what I can tell so far, I think I can find three maybe four of Lex's 33.1 labs with this information alone." She started pulling out pages of data that didn't make any sense to Oliver and was excitedly explaining what each one of them meant when he couldn't take it anymore. He leaned over and cut her off mid sentence with a kiss. It was soft and hesitant almost, nothing like the kiss earlier in the Clock Tower. But she didn't pull away, she didn't try to stop him and she didn't slap him so he figured it was ok.

"What was that?" Chloe asked confused as Oliver pulled away.

"What?" Oliver coughed. "Friends kiss."

"They do?" Chloe smiled up at him. "Really?"

"Oh yeah, friends kiss all the time didn't you know that?" Oliver nodded.

"Wow." Chloe laughed. "If that's true, I'm going to be pretty popular."

"What does that mean?"

"Well if friends kiss all the time, I'm going to be a pretty popular friend." Chloe stood up and went to the coffee machine.

"Ok, I see where you're going with this." Oliver got up to follow her.

"I'm sure Clark will be very surprised at first, but he'll get over it." Chloe poured a cup of coffee. "Victor and AC should be ok with it and Bart, I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

"No." Oliver grabbed the coffee from her and she pouted.

"No what?" She asked.

"No kissing Clark, no kissing AC or Victor, and definitely no kissing Bart."

"But they're my friends and you said friends kiss." Chloe reached for the cup.

"That's cute, the way you did the thing where you took something I said and turned it around on me. No kissing Bart." He held up the coffee cup. "Or no coffee."

"Fine." Chloe agreed and grabbed the cup. "No kissing Bart, so long as you admit that friends don't kiss."

"Some friends kiss?" Oliver took a step closer to Chloe.

"Nope." Chloe shook her head and Oliver's face fell. "But…"

"But?" Oliver smiled. "I like buts." Chloe tried her hardest not to laugh and Oliver glared. "Sorry."

"As I was saying, friends don't kiss, but sometimes people working on taking a friendship to the next level, sometimes those people kiss." Oliver smiled. "Sometimes." She warned.

"Sometimes." Oliver nodded in agreement. "I can deal with sometimes."

"Good." Chloe said. "In the meantime, could you at least pretend to pay attention to the rest of my briefing, I don't sift through piles and piles of information for my own amusement you know." Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "Ok, I kind of do but still, you need to know this stuff."

"Fine, fine." Oliver motioned to the couch. "But I might need some incentive."

"I might know a way to keep you interested." Chloe waggled her eyebrows at him and then stood up on her tip toes and kissed him. "If you can manage to sit still for the next hour or so and actually listen, even when I get to the technical stuff, there might be more in it for you." Oliver smiled.

* * *

Author's Note: I had to get this off my chest after last week's episode Bloodline. I liked the way that episode went so much I had to continue it. Unfortunately I hated the way Abyss ended so now I'm working on a continuation of Abyss that highlights the way Chloe's memory loss will affect her relationship with Oliver and the Justice League so I hope you enjoyed this one and I hope you come back for the next one.


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